Method and device for handling missed calls in a mobile communications environment

ABSTRACT

A mobile terminal comprises a registering functionality which is adapted to register terminal-based information about one or more missed call events which are not accepted by a user. Network-based information about one or more missed call events or voice messages registered by a PLMN to which the mobile terminal is subscribed is received. The network-based information is combined with the terminal-based information such that the mobile terminal is able to present the combined information to a user. Moreover, a method is provided for registering information about missed call events in a PLMN comprising at least an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) which is responsible for packet data services. An incoming call received by the IMS from a calling terminal originally destined to a called mobile terminal is redirected in accordance with Filter Criteria (FC) to the IMS and information about a missed call event in accordance with the incoming call is registered by the IMS.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority from International Application NumberPCT/IB2003/003895 filed Sep. 12, 2003.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates to handling and registering of informationabout missed call events in a mobile communications environment. Inparticular, the present invention relates to an Internet multimediaenvironment of mobile communications.

2. Discussion of Related Art

In view of usability and functionality today's mobile communicationsystems are still under development. Disadvantages became continuouslyapparent to users and developers of mobile communication systems. Thefield of the present invention is associated with the current handlingof missed calls, i.e. calls directed to mobile terminals which are notaccepted by users of the terminals due to all possible reasons includingout of operation mode of the mobile terminals. Today's typical PublicMobile Communications Networks (PLMN) provide digital voice mailboxrecorders as a standard feature. Calls to a mobile terminal can berouted to the digital voice mailbox recorders in case the mobileterminals are switched off or in case a user has predefined call routingrules. That means for instance all incoming calls are routed to anappropriate digital voice mailbox recorder within a certain predefinedperiod of time, when the mobile terminal is present in a certaingeographic region, when the user currently holds a presently activecommunication connection. The enumeration may be continued.

Principally, two different base situations have to be considered formore detailed illustration of the background of the present invention.In the first situation, an example mobile terminal in question shall bein operation, whereas the mobile terminal shall be out of operation inthe second situation.

The mobile terminal in operation is independently able to log allincoming call indications signalized by the PLMN to the terminal device.On receiving a call attempt by the PLMN allowance is made for the userfor accepting, ignoring and rejecting the attempt for establishment of acommunication connection. Accordingly, the mobile terminal is able tolog all call attempts in conjunction with information about the useraction as a consequence of the signalizing (sometimes called“signaling”). That means for instance that one or more dedicatedapplications operated on the terminal device are adapted to log incomingcall indications and user events occurring as a consequence of the callindications. Conventionally, the resulting information is moreovermanaged and stored in a sorted way by the one or more dedicatedapplications, such that the user may be for example allowed to recallinformation about all previously accepted calls and all previouslymissed or rejected calls for being displayed and employed. Furtherconventionally, such presentations of information are normally supportedand obtained by a (graphical) user interface operated on the terminaldevice. The user interface is principally adapted for displayinginformation to a user, the presentation of which is operable with keyinput of the user.

Moreover, the terminal device receiving an incoming call indicationwhich is not accepted by the user, may be configured to route the callto a digital voice mailbox system, which allows a caller to leave avoice message for the user of the terminal device. In case the callerhas left a voice message on the voice mailbox system, the user of theterminal is normally informed about the new available voice message by anetwork message such as a Short Message (SM) provided by the ShortMessage Service (SMS) available in the Global System for Mobilecommunications (GSM) or Universal Mobile Telecommunications System(UMTS). The disadvantage of the described state of the art informationabout voice messages is that on the one hand the mobile terminal logsall incoming call events and on the other side voice messages areprompted to a user of the mobile terminal by network messages.Applications operated on the mobile terminal which are responsible forlogging of call events and network messages, respectively, arecompletely separate such that the information available by theapplications is not brought together although the combination of thisinformation would be favorable for the usability of the mobile terminal.

The mobile terminal that is out of operation is apparently not able toreceive any signals, indications, messages etc. from a public landmobile network. Correspondingly, incoming call indications can not berouted to the mobile terminal such that normally the calls directed tothe mobile terminal out of operation are rerouted automatically to avoice mailbox system of the PLMN. In turn, in case the caller has left avoice message on the voice mailbox system, the user of the terminal isnormally informed about the new available voice message by a networkmessage. The use of network messages for prompting a user about voicemessages on a voice mailbox system is beneficial in this case becausenetwork messages such as short messages operated by the SMS are storedby the PLMN until the mobile terminal returns into operation. There arealso solutions available which overcome the problem about missed callsthe callers of which have not left voice messages. Normally, such missedcalls are not logged because the mobile terminal is out of operation andhence not able to respond thereto and the PLMN does not support anylogging function dedicated therefor.

US 20020094811 discloses a method which allows logging of missed callsby the PLMN and teaches to use network messages such asMobile-Terminating Forward Short Messages (MT-FSM) to inform the user ofthe mobile terminal after switching on about the missed calls analogousto the informing about voice messages left by callers during out ofoperation of the mobile terminal. Nevertheless, the information conveyedto the terminal device via network messages is not combined withinformation acquired by logging functionality of the mobile terminalobtained in an operational state although the combination of thisinformation is favorable for the usability of the mobile terminal

It is apparent to those skilled in the art that the presently employedmethods for indicating missed calls and voice mailbox messages to a userlack in usability since the logged information is not composedadequately to be presented in a uniform presentation which guaranteesusability.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

The object of the invention is to improve usability of a mobile terminalin conjunction with a uniform presentation and handling of informationabout call events comprising especially information about missed callevents and information about voice messages left on a voice mailboxsystem. The uniform presentation and handling of the information aboutcall events shall be independent of the operational state of the mobileterminal.

Advantageously, the present invention ensures that the missed call logimplemented in a portable terminal capable for mobile communicationscontains a complete history about missed calls including informationabout missed call events in case the portable terminal is activated andregisters for itself and in case the portable terminal is out ofoperation and network-based registering is performed.

Moreover, the present invention provides a complete set of informationabout missed call events comprising a caller identifier, time and dateof the missed call, information whether a voice message has been left ona voice mailbox system and the like. The user of the terminal may employone or several parts of the information for further processing.Additionally, the invention allows integration of information about apresent available voice message into the information about a missed callevent which improves the intelligibility and usability of the missedcall presentation. Context sensitive options may be realized as aconsequence of this additional information, a semi-automated voicemessage reproduction is realizable and is improved significantly.

According to a first aspect of the invention, a method for handlinginformation about missed call events and information about voicemessages by a mobile terminal is provided. The mobile terminal comprisesa registering functionality which is adapted to register terminal-basedinformation about one or more missed call events, i.e. incoming callswhich are not accepted by a user of the mobile terminal. The methodcomprises further receiving of network-based information about one ormore missed call events registered by a PLMN to which the mobileterminal is subscribed. The network-based information about one or moremissed call events may comprise additionally network-based informationabout one or more voice messages. Such network-based information occurswhen the mobile terminal is not available or not reachable in the PLMNdue to the fact that for example the mobile terminal is switched off ora call redirection is set. The network-based information is combinedwith the terminal-based information such that the mobile terminal isable to present the combined information to a user.

Consequently, the registering functionality of the mobile terminal iscapable to register and present missed call events to its userindependent from its operational state, i.e. for instance missed callevents in accordance with calls which are not accepted by the user andmissed call events in accordance with calls which are not even routedthereto. The information about missed call events may comprise forinstance information about the originator who has left the message,time, date, eventually subject of the call, etc.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the presentation of thecombined information is advantageous for the user since the presentationdepicts a complete event history relating to all missed call eventsindependent from the operational state of the terminal device.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the method further allowsinstructing a voice mailbox system that is part of the PLMN to reproducevoice messages stored thereon. That means, voice messages left for theuser of the mobile terminal may not be stored locally in the mobileterminal, since voice messages require storage capacity which may not beimplementable therein. As aforestated, the mobile terminal downloadsfrom the PLMN and saves locally the information identifying the messagedesignated above as information about missed call events. The actualvoice message is stored only in the PLMN and when the users want tolisten to the one or more voice messages the one or more voice messagesare streamed to the mobile terminal and reproduced thereby to the user.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the method alternativelyallows instructing the voice mailbox system to reproduce a user-selectedvoice message. The user-selected voice message is defined by userselection operable with the mobile terminal, i.e. with input means ofthe mobile terminal, which are provided for user-operation.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the method in particularcomprises downloading of at least one voice message from the voicemailbox system and storing locally the downloaded voice message on themobile terminal. Moreover, the mobile terminal comprises a voice messagereproduction functionality that is adapted to reproduce voice messagesand in particular to reproduce downloaded and stored voice messages.

According to an embodiment of the invention, a designation of a calleris resolved on the basis of a caller identifier that is comprised in theinformation about missed call events. A directory such as a telephonedirectory, a contact directory, a contact list etc defined andimplemented in the mobile terminal associates a plurality ofdesignations such as names with a plurality of caller identifiers suchas telephone numbers. The resolving operation is performed in accordancewith the defined association between designations and calleridentifiers.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the combining of theinformation about missed call events and the information about voicemessages is obtained by comparing call identifiers comprised thereby.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the mobile terminalreceives the network-based information about missed call events from avoice mailbox service that is part of the PLMN.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the mobile terminalreceives the network-based information about missed call events in theform of XML-coded data. Alternatively, the network-based informationabout missed call events may be represented in another suitable codingsuch as a proprietary data coding.

According to an embodiment of the invention, data communications betweenmobile terminals and the PLMN is based on a Session Initiation Protocol(SIP), in particular adapted to the communication of network-basedinformation about missed call events. It shall be noted that SIP isemployed for session control in an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS),whereas data transmission is operated in conjunction with othertransmission protocols adapted thereto. For instance streaming ofcontent to the mobile terminal may use Real Time Protocol (RTP) overUser Datagram Protocol/Internet Protocol (UDP/IP).

According to a second aspect of the invention, a method for registeringinformation about missed call events in a PLMN is provided thatcomprises at least an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) which is responsiblefor packet data services. An incoming call is received by the IMS from acalling terminal originally destined to a called mobile terminal. Theincoming call is redirected in accordance with Filter Criteria (FC) tothe IMS and information about a missed call event in accordance with theincoming call is registered by the IMS. The at least registeredinformation about the missed call event is stored by the IMS.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the IMS includes one ormore functional entities comprising Call State Control Functions (CSCF),in particular at least a serving Call State Control Function (S-CSCF).

According to an embodiment of the invention, a voice message dictated orspoken by a caller of the calling terminal is recorded and the recordedvoice message is stored by a voice mailbox service (VAS) in conjunctionwith information about the missed call event corresponding to therecorded voice message. The voice mailbox service is part of the PLMN.This information the missed call event corresponding to the recordedvoice message may comprise for instance information about date, time ofthe missed call event (i.e. of the unsuccessful call attempt), number orsession initiation protocol universal resource indicator (SIP URI) ofthe caller, subject provided by the caller, type of the call etc.

According to an embodiment of the invention, a database is associatedwith the voice mailbox service. The database associated with the voicemailbox service may also be employed to store voice messages that areassociated with information about missed call events. Moreover, the IMSmay delegate the storing of the registered information about missed callevents to the voice mailbox service and hence to the database,respectively.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the IMS and a functionalentity (i.e. a CSCF) comprised in the IMS is aware of an availability ofthe originally destined mobile terminal, respectively In particular, theS-CSCF is aware of the availability. The registered information istransmitted to the originally destined mobile terminal when theoriginally destined mobile terminal is present in the PLMN.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the PLMN further includesan availability function that is responsible to inform 3rd partyservices subscribed thereto about an availability state of the calledmobile terminal, i.e. to inform about changes in the availability state.A change of the availability state occurs for example in case theoriginally destined mobile terminal is switched on or off, leaves orenters the coverage area of the PLMN etc.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the voice mailbox serviceis subscribed to the availability function that indicates theavailability of the originally destined mobile terminal thereto.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the registered informationis transmitted as XML-coded data to the originally destined mobileterminal.

According to an embodiment of the invention, data communications withthe originally destined mobile terminal are based on SIP, in particularadapted to the communication of network-based information about missedcall events.

According to a further aspect of the invention, a computer programproduct for executing a method for registering and handling ofinformation about missed call events is provided. The computer programproduct comprises program code sections for carrying out the steps ofthe method of an aforementioned embodiment of the invention, when theprogram is run on a computer, a terminal, a network device, a mobileterminal, a mobile communication enabled terminal or an applicationspecific integrated circuit. Alternatively, an Application SpecificIntegrated Circuit (ASIC) may implement one or more instructions thatare adapted to realize the aforementioned steps of the method of anaforementioned embodiment of the invention, i.e. equivalent with theaforementioned computer program product.

According to another aspect of the invention, a computer program productis provided, which comprises program code sections stored on amachine-readable medium for carrying out the steps of the method of anaforementioned embodiment of the invention, when the computer programproduct is run on a computer, a terminal, a network device, a mobileterminal, or a mobile communication enabled terminal.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, a computer data signalembodied in a carrier wave and representing instructions is providedwhich when executed by a processor causes the steps of the method of anaforementioned embodiment of the invention to be carried out.

According to still another aspect of the invention, a mobile terminal isprovided. The mobile terminal is adapted to handle information aboutmissed call events and comprises a registering functionality for atleast registering terminal-based information about one or more missedcall events. The registering functionality is further adapted to handlenetwork-based information about one or more missed call events. Theregistering functionality receives the network-based informationregistered by a PLMN to which the mobile terminal is subscribed.Afterwards the registering functionality serves for combining thenetwork-based information with the terminal-based information andfinally the registering functionality is provided for presentation ofthe combined information to a user of the mobile terminal. Thenetwork-based information about one or more missed call events maycomprise network-based information about one or more voice messages.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the mobile terminal isadapted to perform any of the operations of the method of anaforementioned embodiment.

According to another aspect of the invention, a PLMN is provided. ThePLMN is adapted to register information about missed call events andcomprises an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). The IMS is adapted toreceive an incoming call from a calling terminal originally destined toa called mobile terminal and to redirect the incoming call in accordancewith filter criteria. Further, the IMS is adapted to registerinformation about a missed call event in accordance with the incomingcall and to store the registered information.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the PLMN is adapted toperform any of the operations of the method of an aforementionedembodiment.

Still other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomereadily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detaileddescription in which reference is made to embodiments of the inventionsimply by the way of illustration. As will be realized the invention iscapable of other and different embodiments and its several details arecapable of modification in various without departing from the scope ofthe invention, which is only limited by the appended claims. Thedrawings and the description are to be regarded as illustrative innature and not as restrictive.

The embodiments described in detail below are directed to theregistration of missed call events and/or the reception/storage of voicemessages associated therewith. At least the reception/storage of voicemessages is typically performed by a voice mailbox service being part ofthe PLMN. Enhanced mailbox services are not limited to voice messagereception and storage. Such voice mailbox services may also be capableto handle facsimile messages, email messages, video calls, videomessages, multimedia messages and the like. Those skilled in the artwill appreciate that the handling of such messages is performedanalogously to the described handling of missed (voice) call events andvoice messages.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 (a-h) illustrates example user interface depictions according toan embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates an operational sequence chart which enables loggingof information about missed call events and voice messages according toan embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 a illustrates an operational sequence chart which enables loggingof information about missed call events and voice messages according toan embodiment of the invention according to a first embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 3 b illustrates an operational sequence chart which enables loggingof information about missed call events and voice messages according toan embodiment of the invention according to a second embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 4 a illustrates a first operational sequence chart that relates toregistering of a mobile terminal according to a first embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 4 b illustrates a first operational sequence chart that relates toregistering of a mobile terminal according to a second embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 5 (a-b) illustrates operational sequence charts which relates torecalling of voice messages according to embodiments of the invention;and

FIG. 6 illustrates an example notification message informing aboutmissed calls and voice messages according to an embodiment of theinvention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

In order to provide clear and comprehensive reference numerals theoperational steps, which are shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 5 and which areoriginally numbered beginning with number one in each operationalsequence chart, are denoted in conjunction with the current number ofthe corresponding figure. That means, operation 1: INVITE shown in FIG.2 will be referenced by the reference numeral 2.1, operation 1: REGISTERshown in FIG. 3 a will be referenced by the reference numeral 3 a.1 andso on.

The term mobile terminal used in the present invention shall applyparticularly to any portable terminal device which is capable of mobilecommunications with public land mobile networks of any standard such asthe global system for mobile communications (GSM), universaltelecommunications system (UMTS), code division multiple access (CDMA)based systems and the like. In the following, depictions of userinterface representations will be described in detail. It should beunderstood that the user interface representations described withreference to FIG. 1 (a) to FIG. 1 (h) represent a selection of userinterface representations that is part of a plurality of user interfacerepresentations which in turn represent in summary the user interface ofthe mobile terminal. The user interface is operated on the mobileterminal to allow the user of the mobile terminal operating,configuring, and employing functions thereof.

User Interface for Handling Information about Missed Call Events andVoice Messages

FIG. 1 (a-h) illustrate example user interface depictions according toan embodiment of the invention, on the basis of which the presentationof information about call events as defined above is performed toprovide improved usability to a user of the terminal device. Theillustrated user interface depictions may be part of the user interfacepresentation that allows a user operating functionality of the terminaldevice by selecting an appropriate user interface depiction andinputting information operable with inputting means provided by theterminal device therefor.

The user interface representations are structured into independent userinterface regions: a first region 100 comprising status informationabout the operational mode of the mobile terminal and/or the currentuser interface presentation, a second region 200 comprising userinterface presentations of the user interface and the third region 300comprising context dependent functions operable with input means of themobile terminal such as a keypad especially an ITU-T keypad.

Referring to FIG. 1 (a) the user interface representation may relate toan informational notification 210 of the mobile terminal operating theuser interface. For instance, the user interface representation of FIG.1 (a) may be presented to the user after putting the mobile terminalinto operation. The informational notification 210 indicates to the userof the mobile terminal that 3 incoming call events have been registeredbut missed by the user, for example because the terminal device was outof operation during the corresponding incoming call events.Alternatively, the same informational notification 210 may be presentedto the user of the mobile terminal in case he has not accepted theincoming call events when the mobile terminal was in operation, forexample because the user had not taken the mobile terminal with him orthe user was unwilling to accept the incoming call event.

Context dependent functions shown to the user allows the user to ignorethe current user interface presentation by selecting an “exit” functionand alternatively, entering a user interface presentation by selecting a“show” function to display detailed information about the registeredmissed call events indicated by the notification information.

Referring to FIG. 1 (b), the user has selected the “show” function fordetailed information about the registered missed call events. Theinformation about the missed call events may be organized in a missedcall list, where each entry of the missed call list relates toinformation about one certain missed call event. The information aboutone missed call event may comprise but is not limited to informationabout the caller such as a name, a designation or a subscriberidentifier, information about the date and/or time of the incoming callevent and information about an optional voice message that has been leftpossibly on a voice mailbox system by the caller. Herein as an example,three missed call events relate to attempts for establishment of a callby the caller “Lee, Henry” 220 dated on Mar. 20^(th), 2003 at 17:59 hrs;by a caller “Harvey, P J” 221, dated on Mar. 20^(th), 2003 at 15:21 hrs;and by a caller “+49070055566” 222, dated on Mar. 20^(th), 2003 at 13:02hrs. The left-hand side positioned symbols indicate moreover that thecaller “Lee, Henry” and the caller “+49070055566” have left voicemessages on the voice mailbox system for being recalled, whereas thecaller “Harvey, P J” has not left any voice message thereon. The presentinvention may be implemented on the side of the PLMN in the IMS.Conventionally, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Uniform ResourceIndicator (URI) is assigned to each user by the IMS and functionalentities thereof, respectively. The SIP URI may be provided and used foraddressing purposes and can be also shown in the presentationillustrated above.

Conventionally, the network subscriber identifier (telephone number;Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) number, SIP URI, etc) of thecalling mobile terminal is conveyed to the called mobile terminal duringincoming call indication. This feature is known as Calling LineIdentification (CLI) or Calling Line Identification Presentation (CLIP).On the basis of the calling line identification the terminal devicereceiving an incoming call indication is able to resolve a name ordesignation assigned to the subscriber identifier, e.g. calling lineidentification of the calling mobile terminal by employing storedcontact information of an electronic contact manager, telephonedirectory and the like for resolution. Depending on whether the calledmobile terminal can identify an assignment of a received calling lineidentification corresponding to the subscriber identifier of the callerand user-predefined name and designation, respectively, thename/designation is presented to the user, otherwise the calling lineidentification presentation is presented.

In the context of the detailed information about missed calls, the useris allowed to leave the current user interface presentation by selectinga context dependent function “exit” as shown in FIG. 1( b).Alternatively, the user is allowed to enter a user interfacerepresentation that presents further functions relating to a subsequenthandling of the missed call events by selecting a context dependedfunction “options”. The functions available under such options for asubsequent selection by the user and handling by the device will effectone of the missed call events. The user pre-selects one of the presentedlist entries operable with the input means of the mobile terminal.Herein as example, the list entry relating to the missed call event ofthe caller “Lee, Henry” 220 is pre-selected indicated by the gray-scaleddimmed background.

Alternatively, the context dependent functions shown to the user maycontain different menu items for different list entries in the missedcall list. The context dependent functions may depend on thepre-selected list entry. For instance, if the caller has left a voicemessage indicated by the list entry as aforementioned a contextdependent function “listen message” may be offered to the user. Thecontext dependent function “listen message” allows the user toimmediately retrieve the left voice message, for instance establish acommunication connection to the voice mailbox system. This alternativecorresponds to a skipping to FIG. 1 (d). In case the caller has not leftany voice message the context dependent function may be disabled, notavailable or substituted with another context dependent function.

Referring to FIG. 1 (c) the user has selected to enter the userinterface representation relating to the functions for subsequenthandling of a pre-selected missed call event caused by the caller “Lee,Henry”. The illustrated user interface representation shows a list offunctions to the user operable with the information about the missedcall event caused by the caller “Lee, Henry”. As example, the user isallowed to call the caller “Lee, Henry”; to listen to the voice messageleft on the voice mailbox system by the caller “Lee, Henry”; to use thenumber being assigned to the caller designation “Lee, Henry”; to deletethe current list entry “Lee, Henry” from the missed call list; to clearthe total missed call list, to add the current caller “Lee, Henry” tothe contacts, the contact manager, the telephone directory etc. managedby the mobile terminal; and the like. The enumeration of functionssuitable in conjunction with the list entry “Lee, Henry” shall beunderstood as not being limited thereto, i.e. further supplementaryfunctions may be added to the presented enumeration of functions. Theuser is allowed to scroll through the list of functions forpre-selecting one of the functions and to confirm the pre-selectedfunction by selecting a context dependent function “select” provided inthe context region 300 of the current user interface representation.Alternatively, the user is also allowed to leave the current userinterface representation by selecting a context dependent function“cancel” provided in addition in the context region 310.

Herein as example and with respect to the present invention, thefunction “listen voice message” shall be pre-selected by the user andthe pre-selection shall be confirmed by selecting the select function.

Referring to FIG. 1 (d) the user has selected the function “listen voicemessage” and the user interface presentation notifies to the user thatan establishment of a communication connection to the voice mailboxsystem is initialized that stores the voice message left by the caller“Lee, Henry” thereon.

Referring to FIG. 1 (e) the initialization of the establishment of thecommunication connection to the voice mailbox system is successfullycompleted such that access to the voice mailbox system is possible. Thedepicted user interface representation notifies accordingly to the user.

Depending on the capabilities and the implemented functions of themobile terminal, the recall of voice messages stored on a voice mailboxsystem may be solved differently. Conventionally, the user of the mobileterminal dials a specific access number to access the voice mailboxsystem that is associated with the mobile terminal to store voicemessages being directed to the user. The voice messages are reproducedby the voice mailbox system to the user after identification with thevoice mailbox system. The reproducing may be controlled by dual-tonemulti-frequency (DTMF) coded signals operable with a keypad (e.g. anITU-T keypad) of the mobile terminal. In view of the present example,the voice mailbox system stores currently two voice messages, the voicemessage of the caller “Lee, Henry” and the voice message of the caller“+49070055566”. The conventional procedure of recalling voice messagesfrom the voice mailbox system implies, that the voice mailbox system isaccessed by the user via the mobile terminal but the mobile terminal isnot capable to control the reproduction of the voice messages. The useris guided through the operation of the voice mailbox system by acomputerized voice control mechanism that expects DTMF-coded controlsignals.

More favorably, the reproducing of a specific voice message iscontrolled by the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal may instruct thevoice mailbox system to reproduce a specific voice message. That meansthat the mobile terminal instructs the voice mailbox system to reproducethat voice message which is associated with the previous selected listentry of list comprising information about the missed called events.Instructions required for controlling the reproduction of a specificvoice message by the voice mailbox system may be conveyed as DTMF-codedsignals.

Referring to FIG. 1 (f), the established communication connection may beused for transmitting the voice message or the voice messages stored onthe voice mailbox system such as described above. The user interfacerepresentation illustrated in FIG. 1 (f) displays a corresponding statusinformation during reproduction of the voice message(s).

Most favorably, the reproducing of the voice message is performed by themobile terminal. The mobile terminal establishes a communicationconnection to the voice mailbox system via which the mobile terminaldownloads a specific voice message of the stored voice messages or allstored voice messages. The one or more voice messages are supplied to avoice mailbox application that allows storing, handling and reproducingthe downloaded voice messages. This embodiment represents the mostfavorable solution since once the voice messages are stored in themobile terminal the voice messages are locally available to the user. Arepeated reproduction does not require an establishment of acommunication connection to the voice mailbox system once again.Moreover, the voice messages may be associated with the correspondingmissed call events such that a simple and fast access of one specificvoice message via the corresponding entry in the above explained missedcall list is achievable.

The user interface representations depicted in FIG. 1 (g) and FIG. 1 (h)relate to another aspect of the inventive solution for reproducing voicemessages. With reference to FIG. 1 (g), the user interfacerepresentation informs the user about the download procedure of thevoice messages. In accordance with the aforementioned solution thedownloaded voice messages are supplied to the voice mailbox applicationoperated on the mobile terminal. Referring to FIG. 1 (h), a possibleuser interface representation relating to the operating of the voicemailbox application is shown. The voice message list is displayed to theuser that comprises list entries which each relate to one currentlystored voice message. The example voice message list shown withreference to FIG. 1 (h) comprises an entry 250 indicating a voicemessage of the caller “Lee, Henry”; an entry 252 indicating a voicemessage of the caller “+49070055566” and an entry 254 indicating a voicemessage of the caller “Ripper, the Jack”. The entry 250 and entry 252,i.e. the voice message of the caller “Lee, Henry”; the voice message ofthe caller “+49070055566” are marked as new voice messages by marks 251and 253, respectively, which informs the user of the mobile terminalthat these voice messages are new and have not been reproduced up tonow.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the user interfacerepresentations shown in FIG. 1 (a) to FIG. 1 (h) and described indetail with reference thereto illustrate a uniform handling of missedcall events and allows the user of the mobile terminal implementing theabove explained and inventive procedure to manage missed call events inan intuitive and adequate way. The usability of the mobile terminalintegrating the above described features is clearly improved againstsolutions of the state of the art. Especially, the aforementionedprocedure for handling missed calls combines all information relating tomissed call events which is not possible with present state of the arthandling of missed calls events which has been described in detail inthe introduction part the present invention.

It shall be expressively indicated that the above-illustrated procedureof handling missed call events accumulates information which may occurduring out-of-operation and in-operation of the mobile terminal,respectively.

The technical realization of aforementioned procedure for handlingvoicemail services and missed call events will become apparent for thoseskilled in the art when reading the following sections relating to thetechnical implementation on the terminal side and on the PLMN side. Inthe following description the implementation of voicemail services andregistering of missed call events as aforementioned with respect to theuser interface operation of a mobile terminal according to an embodimentof the present invention will be based on third generation (3G) IPMultimedia Subsystem (IMS) implementation which is part of the UMTSstandard information about which may be obtained from correspondingstandard relevant documents. Those skilled in the art will appreciatethat mobile communications systems being based on different standardsimplement similar or equal features that allow transferring thedescription given below to those mobile communications system. Thepresent invention shall not be limited to a specific mobilecommunications system.

Registration of Information about Missed Call Events and Voice Messages

The operational sequence chart shown in FIG. 2 illustrates anoperational sequence according to an embodiment of the present inventionwhich allows to log information about a caller when the incoming callevent caused by the caller is not acceptable by a called user such thatthere is not established a communication connection to the called mobileterminal. The depicted operational sequence comprises a calling terminalUE1, a serving call state control function S-CSCF, a voicemailapplication server VAS and a database DB. Although the calling terminalis noted as UE1 which is an abbreviation of user equipment 1 normallydesignating a mobile terminal it shall be understood that callingterminal UE1 may be any terminal capable to call a mobile terminalenabled for mobile communications. Further, it shall be noted that theentities serving call state control function S-CSCF, voicemailapplication server VAS and database DB may be part of one or morephysical network servers being part of the public land mobile network,of which the called mobile terminal is a subscriber mobile terminal.Alternatively, one or more of the aforementioned entities may be one ormore designated physical network servers operating one or morecorresponding applications providing the required functionality.

The operational sequence shown in FIG. 2 applies to the case in which acall from calling terminal UE1 is redirected to voicemail applicationserver VAS providing voice mailbox services for the called mobileterminal which will be designated in the following as mobile terminalUE2. The decision to redirect a call from calling terminal UE1 tovoicemail application server VAS is performed by serving call statecontrol function S-CSCF. Alternatively the redirection of a call fromcalling terminal UE1 to voicemail application server VAS may beperformed by other functional entities such as call state controlfunction (CSCF) entities being part of the IMS. The decision may bebased on different redirection criteria. For instance, serving callstate control function S-CSCF obtains filter criteria from a homesubscriber server HSS. That means basically that the home subscriberserver HSS that stores filter criteria FC predefined by the user ofcalled mobile terminal UE2 instructs serving call state control functionS-CSCF to redirect calls destined originally to called mobile terminalUE2 to voicemail application server VAS.

Filter criteria FC may define that redirection is to be employed in casemobile terminal UE2 is not registered to or not reachable by the IPmultimedia subsystem IMS. Filter criteria FC may be more complex, i.e.for instance may comprise time definitions, caller group definitionsetc. This example of redirecting a call to voicemail application serverVAS is illustrated in FIG. 2.

In an operation 2.1 calling terminal UE1 transmits an original INVITErequest for indicating an incoming call event to serving call statecontrol function S-CSCF. The original INVITE request of operation 2.1 isinitially destined for called mobile terminal UE1 to indicate anincoming call event. The INVITE request as well as following datacommunications are part of the SIP call initiation procedure, SIPdialog, used to set up data communications between the parties. In viewof the aforementioned Filter Criteria (FC) and in conjunction with theassumption that called mobile terminal UE2 is not reachable, servingcall state control function S-CSCF decides in an operation 2.2 toredirect and forward the call to the voicemail application server,respectively. The redirection is obtained in that serving call statecontrol function S-CSCF forwards in an operation 2.3 the INVITE requestto voicemail application server VAS to announce the incoming call eventcaused by calling terminal UE1 and originally destined to mobileterminal UE2. Afterwards voicemail application server VAS notifies in anoperation 2.5 to redirecting serving call state control function S-CSCFof the reception by re-transmitting an OK response which is in anoperation 2.6 in turn forwarded to calling terminal UE1 that hasoriginally requested establishment of a communication connection.

After notification of the voicemail application server VAS of the INVITErequest redirected by serving call state control function S-CSCF in theoperation 2.3 voicemail application server VAS registers the callestablishment attempt of calling terminal UE1 destined for mobileterminal UE2 in an operation 2.4. In detail, the illustrated dialogsbetween the participating entities are performed in a call initiationsession employing SIP dialogs which among other things comprisesinformation about subscriber identifier, call time and CallIDentification (call-ID). The call-ID is a standard identifier employedin SIP dialogs. At least a part of this information is registered by thevoicemail application server to allow registering information aboutmissed call events.

In an operation 2.7 and 2.8, respectively, calling terminal UE1transmits and acknowledgement (ACK) to serving call state controlfunction S-CSCF, which is again forwarded to voicemail applicationserver VAS. After conveyance of the acknowledgements a communicationconnection is established between calling terminal UE1 and voicemailapplication server VAS. In accordance with the functionality ofvoicemail application server VAS in an operation 2.9 a predefinedannouncement is reproduced by voicemail application server VAS and thecaller of calling terminal UE1 is allowed to leave a voice message onvoicemail application server VAS.

In an operation 2.10 calling terminal UE1 indicates the finishing of thecommunication connection by transmitting a BYE indication to servingcall state control function S-CSCF, which is again forwarded voicemailapplication server VAS in an operation 2.11. The BYE indication isacknowledged by an OK response re-transmitted from voicemail applicationserver VAS in an operation 2.12 and forwarded in an operation 2.13 tocalling terminal UE1.

In operations 2.14 and 2.15 that may be operated in parallel orsubsequent to the finalizing of the communication connection, a voicemessage left by the caller of calling terminal UE1 is stored byvoicemail application server VAS in conjunction with information aboutcalling terminal UE1 registered by voicemail application server VAS. Asaforementioned, the information about calling terminal UE1 may comprisesubscriber identifier, call time and a call identification call-ID ofthe employed Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) The call identificationmay be substituted by any other information that is applicable foridentifying a call attempt. Further the information may also includesubject of the call, type of the call such as a video call, a voicecall, a facsimile call, a data call etc.

The information registered in operation 2.4 as well as the informationregistered in operation 2.14 and the voice message left, respectively,may be stored in a database DB associated with voicemail applicationserver VAS. Correspondingly, the storage operation 2.4 and 2.15 maycomprise a database access operated via an appropriate database accessprotocol such as Structured Query Language (SQL) designated for accessto database systems. In case the caller has left a voice message onvoicemail application server VAS a double registration of the call ispossible because information thereabout is stored in operation 2.4 andin operation 2.15. A neglecting or deleting of the previous registrationin conjunction with operation 2.4 is possible when filtering the storedinformation on the basis of the registered call identification call-IDand calling date and/or time.

The described criteria for redirection and forwarding of a call tocalled mobile terminal UE2 is based on filter criteria obtained from thehome subscriber server HSS. Further, redirection criteria may also bepresent which lead to redirection and forwarding of a call originallydestined to called mobile terminal UE2 to the voicemail applicationserver. Another criterion for redirection may be given in case thecalled user of mobile terminal UE2 does not accept the incoming callevent indicated to him. This criterion may be also called “call forward,no answer”. The INVITE request of calling terminal UE1 in operation 2.1is routed conventionally to called mobile terminal UE2. After apredefined period of time mobile terminal UE2 re-transmits a SIPredirection response to calling terminal UE1. The redirection responsecomprises an address identifier of voicemail application server VAS,e.g. coded as a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), such that callingterminal UE1 is instructed to direct an INVITE request to voicemailapplication server VAS identifiable by the address identifier containedin the response. A further criterion for redirection may be given incase mobile terminal UE2 is busy and not capable of accepting theincoming call. This criterion may be also called “call forward, busy”.Analogously, called mobile terminal UE2 receives the INVITE request ofcalling terminal UE1 and actually responds with an SIP redirectionresponse comparable with the aforementioned SIP redirection response.The SIP redirection responses corresponds to class 3 xx responses thatcomprise in particular class 302 “move temporarily” and class 380“alternative service” responses.

Additionally, in case of a redirection instructed by called mobileterminal UE2, a registering of information about a missed call event maynot have to be performed by the voicemail application server when avoice message is not left. This is because called mobile terminal UE2recognizes itself the call event as a missed call event when instructingthe redirection such that information about the missed call event isregistered automatically by the called mobile terminal UE2.

Conclusively, the redirection of the call attempt from calling terminalUE1 to called mobile terminal UE2 may be performed either by servingcall state control function S-CSCF e.g. based on filter criteriaobtained from the home subscriber server HSS or by called mobileterminal UE2 itself. Alternatively, the redirection of the call attemptfrom calling terminal UE1 to called mobile terminal UE2 may also beperformed by another call state control function CSCF of the IMS beingpart of the PLMN. Correspondingly, different session redirection casesmay be operated in different ways. However, in any of theabove-explained possible cases the call attempt of calling terminal UE1is finally redirected to the voicemail application server VAS. On theside of the voicemail application server VAS the previously performedredirection procedure can be neglected. It has to be noted that slightdifferences occur due to the different redirection responses. In casecalled mobile terminal UE2 instructs the redirection the call-ID of theSIP dialog between calling terminal UE1 and voicemail application serverVAS and the call-ID previously valid during the SIP dialog betweencalling terminal UE1 and called mobile terminal UE2 differ. That meansmobile terminal UE2 can not employ the originally registered SIP call-IDfor combining the registered missed call event and the informationcomprising the SIP call identifier, which is stored by voicemailapplication server VAS in conjunction with a left voice message. Aworkaround may be obtained by providing a mechanism that allowsconveyance of the call-ID valid for SIP dialogs between calling terminalUE1 and voicemail application server VAS to called mobile terminal UE2.Alternatively, the subscriber identifier (e.g. a subscriber identifier,telephone number, SIP URI etc) may be employed for joining informationabout a missed call event registered by called mobile terminal UE2 andvoice message stored by voicemail application server VAS.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the operations andfunctionality described with regard to the serving call state controlfunction S-CSCF may analogously be supported by other Call State ControlFunction (CSCF) entities without departing from the scope of the presentinvention. Moreover Call State Control Function (CSCF) are entities ofthe IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) of a 3GPP mobile communicationssystem. The IMS is responsible for packet data services. Similar orother PLMNs include similar or equal subsystems with one or morefunctional entities such that the present invention is also applicablethereto.

It should be noted that the presented operational sequence may notcomprise all possible and necessary operational steps required forredirecting and forwarding an incoming call from terminal UE1,respectively. For example operations and steps relating to anestablishment of required Quality of Service (QoS) are neglected. Butthe operations presented adequately teach the basic operational sequencesuch that those skilled in the art are able to appreciate and implementoperations required for realizing an embodiment of the presentinvention.

Whereas the operational sequence illustrated in FIG. 2 relates to theregistration of information about missed call events and voice messages,the following operational sequences are directed to acquisition of theregistered information and voice messages by the called mobile terminal.

Conveyance of Registered Information about Missed Call Events and VoiceMessages

Referring to FIG. 3 a a first embodiment according to the presentinvention for obtaining registered information by mobile terminal UE2 isprovided. Two basic conditions have to be discussed when considering theobtaining of registered information by mobile terminal UE2.

In first, mobile terminal UE2 is not registered in or reachable by thepublic land mobile network comprising serving call state controlfunction S-CSCF and voicemail application server VAS, i.e. mobileterminal UE2 is not registered to serving call state control functionS-CSCF. The delivery of registered information is suspended until mobileterminal UE2 gets registered.

In an operation 3 a.1 mobile terminal UE2 registers to serving callstate control function S-CSCF by transmission of a REGISTER request thatis answered in an operation 3 a.2 with an OK response. Now serving callstate control function S-CSCF is informed about the availability ofmobile terminal UE2. In an operation 3 a.3 serving call state controlfunction S-CSCF is instructed on basis of predefined filter criteria FCobtained originally from home subscriber server HSS to issue a 3^(rd)party registration to voicemail application server VAS. The 3^(rd) partyregistration is performed in operation 3 a.4, according to which aREGISTER request relating to mobile terminal UE2 is transmitted tovoicemail application server VAS. Consequently, voicemail applicationserver VAS acknowledges the received REGISTER requests in an operation 3a.5 with an OK response. In operations 3 a.6 and 3 a.7 voicemailapplication server VAS delivers information about missed calls and/orinformation about voice messages stored because of the indicatedavailability of mobile terminal UE2. The information delivery may beperformed using e.g. SIP message delivery, subscribe-notify frameworkmessage delivery or any applicable data communication deliveryprocedure.

Depending on the implementation of the public land mobile network towhich mobile terminal UE2 is subscribed, a presence/availability servermay be available which may be employed for indicating to voicemailapplication server VAS about registration of mobile terminal UE2 in thePLMN. A corresponding operational sequence according to anotherembodiment of the present invention is depicted in FIG. 3 b. Thepresence/availability server is responsible to notify any service aboutthe availability, i.e. the availability/reachability of mobile terminalUE2 in the PLMN. Services that wish to be informed about theavailability have to subscribe to the presence/availability server.

In an operation 3 b.1, voicemail application server VAS subscribes tothe availability service of the presence/availability server with aSUBSCRIBE request. In an operation 3 b.2, the presence/availabilityserver acknowledges the subscription with an OK response.

The following operations 3 b.3 to 3 b.5 are analogous to the registeringdescribed above with respect to FIG. 3 a. In an operation 3 b.3 mobileterminal UE2 registers to serving call state control function S-CSCF bytransmission of a REGISTER request that is answered in an operation 3b.4 with an OK response. Now serving call state control function S-CSCFis informed about the availability of mobile terminal UE2. In anoperation 3 b.5 serving call state control function S-CSCF is instructedon basis of filter criteria FC obtained originally from home subscriberserver HSS to issue a 3^(rd) party registration to thepresence/availability server that is responsible to inform dependentservices about the availability of mobile terminal UE2. The 3^(rd) partyregistration is performed in operation 3 b.6, according to which aREGISTER request relating to mobile terminal UE2 is transmitted to thepresence/availability server which then re-transmits an OK response inan operation 3 b.7 back to the S-CSCF.

The registering of mobile terminal UE2 at the presence/availabilityserver causes the presence/availability server to indicate theavailability of mobile terminal UE2 to all subscribed services includingthe voice mailbox service operated by voicemail application server (cf.operations 3 b.1 and 3 b.2). In an operation 3 b.8 a NOTIFY message istransmitted from the Presence Server to the voicemail application serverVAS that in turn acknowledges the notification with an OK responsere-transmitted to the presence/availability server.

In operations 3 b.10 and 3 b.11 voicemail application server VASdelivers information about missed calls and/or information about voicemessages stored because of the indicated availability of mobile terminalUE2. The information delivery may be performed using e.g. SIP messagedelivery, subscriber-notify framework message delivery or any applicabledata communication delivery procedure.

The operational sequences shown in both FIG. 3 a and FIG. 3 b relate toa registration of mobile terminal UE2 indicating its availability orreachability in the public land mobile network (PLMN). Other conditionsare established in case mobile terminal UE2 is available such thatregistration is not performed. In this case, voicemail applicationserver VAS delivers automatically a notification about a voice message,for example immediately after the voice message has been left by thecaller and stored on voicemail application server VAS (and the database,respectively, associated with voicemail application server VAS). Hence,voicemail application server VAS should always be aware of the state ofavailability or reachability of mobile terminal UE2.

The information or notification about one or more voice messages shallcomprise common information such as time, date and specific informationsuch as call-IDs on the basis of which the one or more voice messagesmay be identified.

The operational sequences that have been described with reference toFIGS. 3 a and 3 b primarily relate to the registering of theavailability/reachability of mobile terminal UE2. The followingoperational sequences will describe in more detail the delivery ofinformation about missed calls and voice messages as aforementioned withrespect to operations 3 a.6, 3 a.7 and 3 b.10, 3 b.11, respectively.

Delivery of Information about Missed Calls and Voice Messages

With reference to FIG. 4 a, the depicted operational sequence relates onthe one hand to a subscription procedure including operations 4 a.1 to 4a.3 and on the other hand to a delivery procedure including operations 4a.4 to 4 a.8. It is advantageous to implement the information serviceabout missed call events and voice messages as a user-definable service,i.e. the user of mobile terminal UE2 is allowed to configure theinformation server, especially to activate and deactivate the service.The configuration may be realized as a subscription procedure anembodiment of which is illustrated in FIG. 4 a.

In an operation 4 a.1 the user of mobile terminal UE2 transmits aSUBSCRIBE request to voicemail application server VAS. The subscribeprocedure comprises uploading of a call processing script on the basisof which service logic and filter criteria are obtainable, respectively.The SUBSCRIBE request is acknowledged with an OK response by voicemailapplication server VAS in an operation 4 a.2. Voicemail applicationserver VAS instructs afterwards in an operation 4 a.3 the homesubscriber server about filter criteria FC received from mobile terminalUE2. The subscription may comprise a Call Processing Language (CPL)script that can be uploaded to home subscriber server HSS in order toestablish correct Filter Criteria (FC).

As soon as filter criteria and service logic are established once by theaforementioned subscription procedure, the information service aboutmissed call events and voice messages is activated and available. Thatmeans, as soon as information about missed call events and/or voicemessages is present in the voicemail application server VAS and databaseDB, respectively, the delivery of the information is triggered inaccordance with an operation 4 a.4; i.e. delivery is suspended untilmobile terminal UE2 is present in the public land mobile network foraccepting delivery. In an operation 4 a.5, voicemail application serverVAS requests information about missed call events and/or voice messagesfrom database DB storing the information and voice messages. In anoperation 4 a.6, the requested information is transmitted by database DBto voicemail application server VAS. As a consequence, the request andvoicemail application server VAS sets up a NOTIFY procedure in a nextoperation 4 a.7 comprising the information requested from database DB.The NOTIFY procedure is finally acknowledged in an operation 4 a.8 bymobile terminal UE2 with an OK response.

It should be noted that the above-presented subscribe-notify frameworkcould use the subscribe-notify mechanism provided by the SIP. The NOTIFYmessage of operation 4 a.7 could be a SIP NOTIFY message. Moreover, thesubscription procedure performed via mobile terminal UE2 has beendescribed in detail. Alternatively, in contrast to the user-definablesubscription procedure as aforementioned, the subscription may be apermanent subscription set up by an operator of the PLMN. Instead of theuser via mobile terminal UE2 the operator of the PLMN uploads theinformation required for subscription to voicemail application serverwhich in turn supplies filter criteria to home subscriber server HSS.

It should be further noted that the request for information about missedcall events and/or voice messages directed in operation 4 a.5 todatabase DB may be carried out in any suitable protocol that is adaptedfor requesting information from database DB. In particular, SQLrepresents an adequate database access protocol but the presentinvention should not be understood as limited thereto.

With reference to FIG. 4 a, the depicted operational sequence relates toa delivery procedure being modified in comparison with the operationalsequence shown in FIG. 4 b. In alternative to FIG. 4 a the presentedoperational sequence may employ a SIP MESSAGE procedure to deliver theinformation.

In detail, as soon as information about missed call events and/or voicemessages is present in the voicemail application server VAS and databaseDB, respectively, the delivery of the information is triggered inaccordance with an operation 4 b.1; i.e. delivery is suspended untilmobile terminal UE2 is present in the public land mobile network foraccepting delivery. In an operation 4 b.2, voicemail application serverVAS requests information about missed call events and/or voice messagesfrom database DB storing the information and voice messages. In anoperation 4 b.3, the requested information is transmitted by database DBto voicemail application server VAS and, as a consequence the requestand voicemail application server VAS sets up a MESSAGE procedure in anext operation 4 b.4 comprising the information requested from databaseDB. The MESSAGE procedure is finally acknowledged in an operation 4 b.5by mobile terminal UE2 with an OK response.

An example structuring of the information delivered in a NOTIFYprocedure or in a MESSAGE procedure according to FIGS. 4 a and 4 b,respectively, is illustrated in FIG. 6 and described in detail withrespect thereto.

It should be emphasized that the above-presented methods for deliveringinformation about missed call events and/or voice messages are exampleimplementations. The present invention should not be limited to anyoneof the specific illustrated and described procedures. Alternative datacommunication procedures and bearers may be employed without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the present invention. For example, theinformation delivery may be based on MMS messages containing plain textor well-structured information. Additionally, an information delivery onthe basis of an HTTP POST procedure may also applicable.

The following operational sequences illustrated in FIG. 5 a and FIG. 5 brelate to the recalling/reproducing of voice messages stored byvoicemail application server VAS and database DB, respectively,associated with voicemail application server VAS for storing registeredinformation and voice messages. For simplicity, database DB andoperations relating to the requesting and delivering of information,data, voice messages and the like stored in the database DB are omitted.Access procedures to database DB have been explained above with respectto FIGS. 4 a and 4 b, respectively.

Recalling Voice Messages

Referring to FIG. 5 a, the user wants to listen to voice messages storedby voicemail application server VAS. In an operation 5 a.1, the usersimply calls voicemail application server VAS, which may cause an INVITErequest of mobile terminal UE2 to voicemail application server VAS.Voicemail application server VAS acknowledges the INVITE request with anOK response in an operation 5 a.2. Now the user may listen in anoperation 5 a.3 to one or more voice messages stored on and reproducedsubsequently by voicemail application server VAS. Finally, the call tovoicemail application server VAS is finished by transmitting a BYEindication acknowledged with an OK response, in operations 5 a.4 and 5a.5.

In a more sophisticated voice message reproduction, the DTMF-codedsignals effected by user input may allow the user to control thereproduction of the one or more voice messages. A correspondingexemplary operational sequence is depicted in FIG. 5 b. The control ofthe reproduction may comprise indicating a pausing of the currentreproduction, a resuming of the current reproduction, a skipping forwardto a next voice message, a skipping backward to a previous voicemessage, a winding forward within a voice message, a winding backwardwithin a voice message, a repeated reproduction of a voice message, adeleting of a voice message and the like. The control of thereproduction via voicemail application server VAS may be realized byemploying INVITE, UPDATE and INFO procedures/dialogs of the SIP. TheUPDATE procedure may be applicable for instructing pausing and resuming,whereas the INFO procedure may be applicable for instructing skippingand winding commands, wherein the INFO procedure may include XML-codeddata or DTMF-coded signals for conveying information and commandsrequired. The DTMF coded signals may be substituted with a new SIPprocedure that is currently under standardization in the InternationalEngineering Task Force (IETF). This new SIP procedure is capable andadapted to carry DTMF-like commands that are formatted in KeyPad MarkupLanguage (KPML). Thus, the method described in detail above is notlimited to DTMF-coded signal conveyance, since alternatives arepossible. One alternative is the briefly mentioned KPML-coded signaling.

The establishing of a communication connection to voicemail applicationserver VAS may require an authorization of the user at voicemailapplication server VAS. For instance an adequate authorization proceduremay comprise a transmission of a user identification and/or a passwordto voicemail application server VAS. Alternatively, the authorizationprocedure may be based on URI of mobile terminal UE2, which is comprisedin dialogs of the SIP.

The most sophisticated voice message reproduction may allow a remotecontrol of the reproduction of the one or more voice messages stored byvoicemail application server VAS. When referring back to the userinterface presentation of FIG. 1 (b), a list of missed call events areshown, each entry of which comprises information about the missed voiceevent including information whether a voice message has been left by thecaller of the missed call. The selecting of the option function “listento voice message” as illustrated in FIG. 1 (c) may automaticallyestablish a communication connection to voicemail application server VASand instruct voicemail application server VAS to reproduce the voicemessage of exactly that missed call event that has been pre-selectedbefore selecting the option function “listen to voice message”. Such anautomatic selection of a voice message on voicemail application serverVAS for being reproduced may be obtained by using an INVITE requesttransmitted from mobile terminal UE2 to voicemail application serverVAS, the header of which includes for example a call-ID or XML-formatteddata that identifies to voicemail application server VAS the voicemessage to be reproduced. Voicemail application server VAS receives suchan INVITE request, parses the header of the INVITE request and mayextract the call-ID and select on the basis of the extracted call-ID acorresponding voice message stored thereon.

Finally, the reproduction of the voice messages may be performed bymobile terminal UE2 itself. Mobile terminal UE2 implements voice messageplayer functionality such that voice messages to be reproduced aredownloaded from voicemail application server VAS to mobile terminal UE2and stored on mobile terminal UE2. Once the one or more voice messagesare downloaded and stored, the user may operate the voice message playerfunctionality comprising pause, resume, skipping (forward, backward),winding (forward, backward) etc functions to reproduce a voice messagefor being listened to. This embodiment allows the user to get completeaccess to the handling and managing of the voice messages. Once a voicemessage is downloaded it can be reproduced several times without anyfurther charging, it can be archived, it can be deleted, it can beforwarded etc.

Although the communication between mobile terminal UE2 and voicemailapplication server VAS has been described in conjunction withdialogs/procedures of the SIP it should be understood that any otherprotocol may be applicable to implement the aforementioned features. Theemployed protocol has to be supported on both sides, i.e. on the side ofmobile terminal UE2 as well as on the side of voicemail applicationserver VAS. For instance, the communication between mobile terminal UE2and voicemail application server VAS may be based on Hyper-Text TransferProtocol (HTTP). The aforementioned DTMF coding for conveying signalsmay be replaced with KeyPad Markup Language (KPML), Voice eXtensibleMarkup Language (VoiceXML), or any other relevant description language.

Protocol for Conveyance of Information about Voice Messages and MissedCall Events

The structuring of the delivered information may be carried outaccording to any specific protocol or may be coded as plain textinformation. The usage of a specific protocol is preferable in order toput the information to be delivered in a well formed structure that isable to be parsed in an economical way, especially in view of thelimited processing capabilities and storage capacities of mobileterminals.

FIG. 6 depicts an exemplary well-formed XML-formatted structure whichallows embedding information about missed call events and voicemessages. A specific XML decoding application operated on mobileterminal UE2 serves for parsing the XML-formatted structure and extractsthe coded information therefrom. The parsable XML-formatted structureguarantees that the comprised information is combinable with missed callevents registered, logged and handled by mobile terminal UE2 such thatthe aforementioned handling of information about missed call events andvoice messages is realizable.

The example XML-formatted structure shown in FIG. 6 should not beunderstood to represent a concluding and completed definition of the XMLformat. The example XML-formatted structure comprises information abouta missed call event with a voice message left on a voicemail applicationserver (cf. lines 02 to 10) and an information about a missed call event(cf. lines 12 to 18).

The information about the missed call event with left voice message oflines 02 to 10 comprises an information about the originator of themissed call event in line 03, a date and time information in lines 04and 05, a call identifier (call-ID) in line 06, a information about thetype in line 07, an address information for obtaining a voice message inline 08 and finally a subject information in line 09.

Analogously, the information about the missed call event of lines 12 to17 comprises an information about the originator of the missed callevent in line 12, a date and time information in lines 13 and 14, a callidentifier (call-ID) in line 15, a information about the type in line 16and finally a subject information in line 17.

The information is well structured due to the XML-formatted structuring.Instead of the presented XML-formatted information VoiceXML could beutilized in the aforementioned application for coding. In fact, VoiceXMLshould be applicable to represent voice messages as such and to be usedas one coding format when voice messages are stored in the mobileterminal itself.

CONCLUSION

While a selection of embodiment of the invention have been disclosed indetail, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that variousother modifications and variations may be made to the illustratedembodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentinvention as described in the specification and defined in the appendedclaims.

Abbreviations 3GPP 3^(rd) Generation Partnership Project ASICApplication Specific Integrated Circuit CDMA Code Division MultipleAccess CLI Calling Line Identifier CLIP Calling Line IdentificationPresentation CPL Call Processing Language DB DataBase DTMF Dual-ToneMulti-Frequency FC Filter Criteria

GSM Global System for Mobile communication

HSS Home Subscriber Server HTTP Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol IETFInternational Engineering Task Force IMS IP Multimedia Subsystem IPInternet Protocol ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network ITU-TInternational Telecommunications Union—Telephony KPML KeyPad MarkupLanguage PLMN Public Land Mobile Network RCAS Rich Call ApplicationServer RTP Real Time Protocol S-CSCF Serving Call State Control FunctionSIP Session Initiation Protocol SQL Structured Query Language UDP UserDatagram Protocol UE User Equipment UMTS Universal MobileTelecommunications System URI Uniform Resource Indicator VAS VoicemailApplication Server

VoiceXML Voice eXtensible Markup LanguageVoIP Voice over IPXML eXtensible Markup Language

1.-26. (canceled)
 27. A method comprising: determining to receive, at amobile terminal, terminal-based information of one or more missedincoming communications and associated one or more terminal messages;determining to receive network-based information of one or more missedincoming communications and associated one or more network messages; anddetermining to present, at a user interface of the mobile terminal, thenetwork-based information and the terminal-based information for the oneor more missed incoming communications per entry.
 28. A method of claim27, wherein each entry includes a communication initiating time, acommunication initiator identification, an indication of an associatedmessage, or a combination thereof.
 29. A method of claim 27, comprising:determining to fetch the one or more network messages from thecommunication network; and determining to present the one or morenetwork messages and the one or more terminal messages per entry of eachassociated message at the user interface.
 30. A method of claim 27,further comprising: determining to subscribe to the communicationnetwork to receive notification of one or more missed incomingcommunications based upon one or more filter criteria; determining toreceive and parsing the notification as the network-based information;and combining the network-based information with the terminal-basedinformation for presentation on the user interface.
 31. A method ofclaim 29, further comprising: determining to store the one or morenetwork messages at the mobile terminal; and determining to reproducethe one or more stored network messages at the mobile terminal.
 32. Amethod of claim 27, wherein the communication network includes at leasta partly land-based mobile network.
 33. A method comprising facilitatingaccess to at least one interface to allow access to at least oneservice, the service configured to perform at least the following:determining to receive an incoming communication destined to a directedmobile terminal from an initiating terminal at a network node in acommunication network, the incoming communication involving one or morecommunication media; and determining to redirect the incomingcommunication to another network node based upon one or more filtercriteria for registering information of the redirected communication andfor storing the registered information.
 34. A method of claim 33,wherein the service is further configured to perform: determining toreceive a subscription request for one or more communication statecontrol functions from the directed mobile terminal at the network node;and determining to issue a registration request from the network node tothe another network node on behalf of the directed mobile terminal, therequest being set for registering a function of creating one or moreassociated messages in response to the redirected communication.
 35. Amethod of claim 34, wherein the service is further configured toperform: determining to transmit a notification of the redirectedcommunication, the one or more associated messages, or a combinationthereof to the directed mobile terminal, based upon the one or morecommunication state control functions as subscribed.
 36. A method ofclaim 33, wherein the one or more communication media include one ormore emails, one or more voice calls, one or more video calls, one ormore multimedia calls, one or more facsimile messages, one or more voicemessages, one or more video messages, one or more multimedia messages,or a combination thereof.
 37. An apparatus comprising: at least oneprocessor; and at least one memory including computer program code,wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code configuredto, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform atleast the following: determine to receive, at a mobile terminal,terminal-based information of one or more missed incoming communicationsand associated one or more terminal messages; determine to receivenetwork-based information of one or more missed incoming communicationsand associated one or more network messages; and determine to present,at a user interface of the mobile terminal, the network-basedinformation and the terminal-based information for the one or moremissed incoming communications per entry.
 38. An apparatus of claim 37,wherein each entry includes a communication initiating time, acommunication initiator identification, an indication of an associatedmessage, or a combination thereof.
 39. An apparatus of claim 37, whereinthe apparatus is further caused to: determine to fetch the one or morenetwork messages from the communication network; and determine topresent the one or more network messages and the one or more terminalmessages per entry of each associated message at the user interface. 40.An apparatus of claim 37, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:determine to subscribe to the communication network to receivenotification of one or more missed incoming communications based uponone or more filter criteria; determine to receive and parse thenotification the network-based information; and combine thenetwork-based information with the terminal-based information forpresentation on the user interface.
 41. An apparatus of claim 39,wherein the apparatus is further caused to: determine to store the oneor more network messages at the mobile terminal; and determine toreproduce the one or more stored network messages at the mobileterminal.
 42. An apparatus of claim 37, wherein the communicationnetwork includes at least a partly land-based mobile network.
 43. Anapparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memoryincluding computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and thecomputer program code configured to, with the at least one processor,cause the apparatus to perform at least the following: determine toreceive an incoming communication destined to a directed mobile terminalfrom an initiating terminal at a network node in a communicationnetwork, the incoming communication involving one or more communicationmedia; and determine to redirect the incoming communication to anothernetwork node based upon one or more filter criteria for registeringinformation of the redirected communication and for storing theregistered information.
 44. An apparatus of claim 43, wherein theapparatus is further caused to: determine to receive a subscriptionrequest for one or more communication state control functions from thedirected mobile terminal at the network node; and determine to issue aregistration request from the network node to the another network nodeon behalf of the directed mobile terminal, the request being set forregistering a function of creating one or more associated messages inresponse to the redirected communication.
 45. An apparatus of claim 44,wherein the apparatus is further caused to: determine to transmit anotification of the redirected communication, the one or more associatedmessages, or a combination thereof to the directed mobile terminal,based upon the one or more communication state control functions assubscribed.
 46. An apparatus of claim 43, wherein the one or morecommunication media include one or more emails, one or more voice calls,one or more video calls, one or more multimedia calls, one or morefacsimile messages, one or more voice messages, one or more videomessages, one or more multimedia messages, or a combination thereof.